UEFA Champions League: Liverpool predicted to ease into last 16 ...

With the league phase of the UEFA Champions League now past its halfway point, all British teams are in a good position to at least qualify for the play-offs.

Liverpool and Arsenal have their sights more firmly set on finishing in the top eight to ensure a straight path to the last 16.

After matchday five, Liverpool are the only team to still hold a perfect record with five wins from five to leave them sitting pretty at the top of the table, while Arsenal are seventh with 10 points.

So, what are the chances of all five British teams reaching the play-offs or, even better, the top eight?

We have asked Opta to power up its supercomputer to tell us the latest probabilities of the sides moving past the league phase.

Liverpool’s stunning form means they are already guaranteed a place in the play-offs but it looks fairly certain they will not need to worry about that, as they are odds-on favourites to secure their place in the top eight and enjoy a safe passage through to the last 16.

Arne Slot’s men have already dispatched AC Milan, Bologna, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and defending champions Real Madrid.

They have scored 12 times and only conceded once so will fancy their chances of staying perfect through the league phase with matches against Girona, Lille and PSV to come.

After crunching the numbers, here is how Opta sees Liverpool's chances of qualifying for both the play-offs and the top 8...

• Top 24 finish % (play-off qualification): 100%
• Top 8 finish % (automatic qualification): 98.72%

Opta predicts Arsenal are as good as qualified for the play-off stages, but still have some hard work to do if they are to make the top eight.

Aston Villa, Manchester City and Celtic are all thought to have a great chance of making the play-offs, but the likelihood of a direct passage into the last 16 is significantly less than Liverpool or Arsenal.

Let's have a closer look at Opta’s predictions:

With five matchdays down, here are the standings at the top of the UEFA Champions League table.

• Girona (a) - Tuesday 10 December
• Lille (h) -  Tuesday 21 January
• PSV (a) - Wednesday 29 January

• Monaco (h) - Wednesday 11 December
• Dinamo Zagreb (h) - Wednesday 22 January
• Girona (a) - Wednesday 29 January

Aston Villa

• RB Leipzig (a) - Tuesday 10 December
• Monaco (a) - Tuesday 21 January
• Celtic (h) - Wednesday 29 January

Manchester City

• Juventus (a) - Wednesday 11 December
• PSG (a) - Wednesday 22 January
• Club Brugge (h) - Wednesday 29 January

• Dinamo Zagreb (a) - Tuesday 10 December
• Young Boys (h) - Wednesday 22 January
• Aston Villa (a) - Wednesday 29 January

The prediction model estimates the probability of each match outcome (win, draw or loss) by using betting market odds and Stats Perform’s team rankings.

The odds and rankings are based on historical and recent team performances.

The model considers the strength of opponents by using these match outcome probabilities and simulates the remaining fixtures in the competition thousands of times.

By analysing the outcome of each of these simulations, the model can see how often teams finished in each league position to create the final predictions.